Chinese Vice-Premier Wen Jiabao Friday called for the development of China's service industry, saying that the service industry is an important driving force for China's economy and a major solution to the serious employment issue.

Speaking at a teleconference on the service industry, he said that while most of the major industrial and agricultural products are in a state of relative over-supply, the demand for good services keeps growing.

He said that developing the service industry will be employed as a major means to solve the employment issue in the near future, and the government will create a sound environment to boost development in this sector.

He said that he expected this sector to grow faster than the national economy, at an annual rate of around 7.5 percent during China's Tenth Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005).

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2002)